squirrels

[sidelock]

I have just been gifted some gray squirrels. How do I prepare them?

 

[Black Hand]

Many here have mentioned Squirrel and Gravy. Essentially, braise until the meat comes from the bones, pick meat, thicken the braising liquid and add the meat back.

I figure any recipe for rabbit should work for squirrel. I recommend a long, slow, moist cooking method - this has worked on the Pine squirrels hereabouts.

 

[satx78247]

IF the squirrels are young enough, you can batter & fry them as if they were chicken.
Otherwise, you have already received GOOD advice.

yours, satx

 

[tenngun]

Braise and get the meat off the bones, meanwhile sauté onions and mushrooms add the meat to the mix then add a 1/2 cup dry red wine and 1/2 cup beef broth bring to a boil and remove from heat serve over rice or wide noodles.

 

[Brokennock]

Squirrel pot pie. Steam them, pick all the meat off, mix with par boiled carrots, blanched green peas, pearl onions, maybe some green beans cut into 1 inch pieces, and chicken gravy or cream of mushroom soup, pour into a pie crust, either top with a traditional crust top or biscuit top, and bake until crust is done.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Um..., everybody has good ideas...,

I'd skin 'em and clean 'em first, though.... :haha:

How To Skin a Squirrel

LD

 

[Pukka Bundook]

Dave,


Your comment reminds me of Baldrick preparing 'Rat' for Captain Blackadder!

"You take the freshly shaved rat, and marinate it in a puddle for a while.."

"Yes, for how long?"

"Until it's drowned..."

Best,

Meself.

 

[Hairy Clipper]

Years ago at the gun club in the dead of winter one of our members showed up on a Sunday afternoon with a crock pot filled with what he called Squirrel Fricassee. It was one of the top five things I have ever eaten. He brought me the recipe and over the last 20 years I have misplaced it! It had green pepper in it and I do not know what else. There are some darn good squirrel dishes out there.

 

[Ames]

[quote It had green pepper in it and I do not know what else.] [/quote]
And squirrel I bet... :grin:

 

[Hairy Clipper]

lol 👍👍

 

[satx78247]

Actually you can actually make dishes that taste like squirrel WITHOUT any squirrels.
(I once made a 10 gallon pot of "squirrel stew" for a Lion's Club meeting & discovered that we were OUT of squirrels. = The exact same recipe for squirrel stew was used with boneless chicken thighs & NOBODY but me knew the difference.)

yours, satx

 

[Ames]

A great save on your part, I dare to say!

 

[satx78247]

Had I not delivered the "squirrel stew" that Winter night, it would have been embarrassing, inasmuch as I'd provided it to the club's wild game dinner for about a dozen years.

yours, satx

 

[George C]

I pressure cook my squirrels just enough to get them tender before I fry them.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I pressure cook my squirrels just enough to get them tender before I fry them.

Now THAT's interesting..., I will need to try that one for sure!

I like pressure cooked deer heart, and so does my son! :haha:

Mostly I like squirrel slow roasted, and wrapped in bacon, or slow cooked, and used to make Hunter's Pie (which is shepherd's pie but you use squirrel), and then there is Brunswick Stew.

LD

 

[crockett]

Young squirrel is tender and similar to chicken wings so you can fry them. Just eat the front and back legs- the rest doesn't have that much meat. There's various ways to clean a squirrel. Some split the skin on the back, others cut all around the middle and pull the ends off like a pair of gloves. I carry a small hatchet and chop off feet, head, tail. front and back legs.
Some squirrels might have fleas- don't stick them in a game bag that is part of a vest- have a separate bag.
On older squirrels the traditional southern recipe is Brunswick Stew. This stew was designed for squirrel or rabbits and if you use chicken the meat is sort of tasteless unless it is a tough old bird. Since there are a lot of vegetables a little meat goes a long way.
Now a days the recipe is over done with too much ingredients but traditionally it had corn, lima beans, a can of stewed tomatoes, usually diced up white potato, and squirrel meat taken off the bone. Salt pepper, dash of red pepper.
Believe it or not there are a few folks that eat the brains- but now a days the Fish and Game people say there is a chance of chronic wasting disease so skip that.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I don't know about CWD in squirrels but there is Racoon Roundworm that can cross into humans that eat the brains. I've had a couple squirrels in my neighborhood last year that had the symptoms. They can't walk in a straight line, and fall over on their sides a lot as though they were drunk. :shocked2:

LD

 

[Ames]

I remember on a job in the 70's, squirrels under a mulberry tree, eating fermented fruit. They were all falling over drunk. :haha:

 

[satx78247]

I was wondering if there is a beer joint that caters to squirrels in Dave's neighborhood.
(CHUCKLE)

Fwiw, we have any number of "squirrels" in our neighborhood who get soused & stagger around drunk.

yours, satx

 

[crockett]

Thanks LD- a few years back, in broad daylight, middle of the day, I saw a raccoon come out of some underbrush and walk past me, staggering around. I thought it had rabies but it wasn't snarling or foaming at the mouth.